Paper recycling levels hit new high
Monday, October 15, 2012 - 14:15:43
The percentage of paper that is recycled in Europe has reached its highest point ever, according to a new report.
The European Recovered Paper Council announced that 70.4 per cent of all paper is now recycled in our continent, which marks a year on year improvement of 1.5 per cent.
As well as more paper being recycled, it now seems that more manufacturers that produce paper products are making the effort to harness recycled sources, rather than opting for fresh loads.
The good news for people in the UK is that we actually recycle more paper than many of our European cousins, with current recycling rates at 78.7 per cent. This not only tops the average, but easily outperforms 12 EU nations, which have recycling rates of under 60 per cent.
Fifty eight million tonnes of paper were collected for recycling last year, which is actually roughly the same as the amount which was picked up in 2010. The recycling rate was improved despite this plateau, because people were simply using fewer paper products.
This could be a by product of the increased usage of digital communications, allowing people to cut down on the amount of paper that they consume.
Europe has one of the world's best paper recycling infrastructures and it is a shining light in this area, according to the report.
Now there is an ongoing effort to improve the efficiency of the recycling process itself. This means that recycling centres are looking to find a way to put all of the materials produced during the recycling process to work and not just the paper fibres.
A number of proposals for improvements have been made and, hopefully, centres across the UK and Europe will be adopting them in order to make the most of the resources that we have.
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